Live From NSDC, St. Louis--I just caught a small part of a session on Response to Intervention given by a pair of educators with the Excelsior Springs (Mo.) school district. Here’s something I never realized (and that seems incredible to me): The screening used to determine which intervention “tier” a student falls into--known as the curriculum-based measurement process--takes only one to three minutes to complete. From the results of that lightening-fast assessment, presenter Christina Compton said, she can tell right away which students are on a path to do poorly on the state tests. She added that there is some 20 years of research to support the method.
Other key points on RTI, according to Compton: It’s important to remember that the framework is not about giving students a label--it’s about improving outcomes for all students. And it’s essential to make the sure that interventions take place in addition to core instruction. Apparently a mistake many schools make is to take struggling readers, for example, out of reading instruction.
- Anthony Rebora